Details

This is a consolidated communication for the week of April 7 to let everyone know what is coming up with workshops and jams. The workshop school depends on donations to operate. Directions to Workshop Music LLC are at the end of this mail.

Summary:

Tuesday – Gypsy Jazz/Swing Jam 7pm to whenever

Wednesday – Free Music Workshop 7pm, Jam 9pm to whenever

Thursday – NO GUITAR WORKSHOP THIS WEEK – Hot Club Sandwich/Ray Wood at Royal Room

Friday – NEW! “New Way to Play” workshop for new players 7pm

This is a FRIDAY workshop for instruments such as guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bass, ukulele and other strings. The range of playing level is newer players or players that want to rewind and rework their tone and technique. The experience level might be minimally experienced to somewhat experienced.

That range covers a lot of ground but especially addresses challenge areas for people that have been attending the free Wed music workshops. This workshop will directly target the needs of players attending the Wed workshops or who want to get up to a playing point where you can merge into the workshop with more playing and enjoyment and less frustration when the topics get into more experienced areas.

For people not familiar with the terminology of the school, the outside definition of “minimally experienced” might be “beginner”. This is not about beginning or ending; it is a process of gaining experience channeled in an efficient manner through the methodology of the Accelerated Music Program (AMP).

The nature and focus of the workshops will adapt the requirements and styles of the people who attend. The Wed night workshop is free, but people donate and that works pretty well to cover basic expenses. The workshop school could really use donations to pay the rent since moving into a commercial location.

The genesis of the new Friday night workshop & jam is inspired by some of my favorite people who “less experienced” and are working hard to become more experienced and gain more enjoyment and spirit from their music.

This workshop will cover shortcuts and answer questions dynamically with the flow of the group...definitely use this to come and get your questions or needs addressed without taking individual sessions. Everyone is welcome and many people from the Wed night workshop would benefit from this....weekly or once in a while. This will be a weekly event!

TUESDAY GYPSY JAZZ & SWING JAM 7pm

The jam has been getting a good groove and is open to players who can follow the charts or attempt to quietly. We are playing a wide variety of tunes, many from the Django Fakebook and also playing the gypsy jazz standards. If you have PDFs/docs of specific charts, send those ahead and we can project those on the monitor.

When there are a lot of players please watch the guitar volumes with singers and solos. Ideally, you could play pretty firmly if you are doing a very tight swish...mandolinish. Sometimes there is just too much guitar noise. However, I will have things set up so vocals are easier to hear and we will continue to develop good ways of having the most fun and spirit.

WEDNESDAY FREE MUSIC WORKSHOP 7PM & JAM 9pm for strings

The free Wednesday workshop is the main event of the week where a community of people can get together to learn and play with a fun jam session that follows. The workshop is an intense 2+ hour weekly effort that cycles through the five key elements of MUSICIANSHIP followed by a friendly jam session. The workshop is not about picking your instrument, learning licks or playing fast.

Whatever style and to whatever degree you play and how you experience that is the musician you are now...you could say that is the experience level of your musicianship. The workshop hopes to help you create strong rhythmic articulate tone using the math of music as applied to the geometry of your instrument. By virtue of that, the techniques can be extended to many styles of music or original composition.

THIS WEEK THERE IS NO GUITAR WORKSHOP Thursday April 10. Please join us at the Royal Room to see our friends with Hot Club Sandwich featuring RAY WOOD on guitar. A MUST for guitar players! see more info at http://www.hotclubsandwich.com/site/page/home and there is a poster at the workshop venue.)

For all other Thursdays, this is a guitar focused workshop for less to medium experienced players. Often times, this is the best opportunity to drill down on the material covered in the Wednesday workshop. The workshop adapts to the players who come consistently. Any one person might help define one workshop or the direction of workshops with the questions or needs they might have. This is not about presenting a learning agenda or syllabus. This is about identifying gaps in musicianship related to guitar playing technique.

Guitar players who attend might have a basic to intermediate knowledge of bluegrass and fiddle tune technique and may want to warm-up, brush-up, clean-up or improve some of the licks you know. They might also want to learn some swing and gypsy jazz chords and related techniques that improve your musicianship. While the left hand is key, the right hand is critical to enhance tone and dynamics and no hour or note will go by without specific work on where your pick meets the strings.

Other PICKED instruments are welcome with the idea that we focus on and defer to guitars. However, all the notes and right hand techniques are closely aligned on all the picked instruments. Violins would be welcome, but you need to let me know so I can structure the class on how to play with fiddle/violin and double on fiddle tunes, etc. i.e., fun.

ALL other instruments can come later to jam; currently the workshop is going 3 hours or more.

NEW!

FRIDAY strings workshop “New Way to Play”!

See info at top.

DIRECTIONS

FYI, there is doorbell at the right side of the gate if it is closed.

The building is at a short driveway exactly at the south side of the intersection at NE Northlake Way and 8th Ave. The number is 723 NE Northlake Way, Seattle, 98105 – BUT the google map shows it wrong as being in the middle of the block. It is just east of there at 8th and not 7th. There is a small sandwich board sign at that street sign (8th & Northlake). It is one block east of Ivar’s Salmon House at water level.

Look for the business GALLERY MARINE which is in the same exact location. You can see a black roof of the school building from the street. Just past the driveway, the street continues directly under the University Bridge, so don’t go under the bridge...it is just before that. The building is inside the marina which is a safe secure location. Please use safety and common sense around the docks and water.